


A tiger without stripes...

by LoverOfWriting



Series: Magical Magnus [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Happy Ending, Light Angst, Love, M/M, Malec, Post ep 3x16, Rings, a lot of love, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 22:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18397697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoverOfWriting/pseuds/LoverOfWriting
Summary: Alec's proposal didn't go as he expected.Magnus is still hurting too much.He needs something.But what?Here's my little take on how it could go after that scene.





	A tiger without stripes...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kate_kate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate_kate/gifts).



> I haven't watched the sneak peek nor read any of the reviews, so I've just made this story from a little seed that blossomed on my mind while I was resting past Saturday from a nasty migraine. Weird much? Huh.
> 
> Also I wrote it basically in a go, six hours in a row, a real record for me.
> 
> Not beta-ed, so please excuse my mistakes.
> 
> And I really hope that episode 3x17 give us the happy ending that Malec needs.
> 
> As usual, thanks for reading! ❤
> 
> And thank you, my dearest Caterina, for your endless support! I hope you like this little gift.

 

 

Magnus watched his reflection on the shop window, his gaze a mixture between distaste and fear. He had wiped his makeup wildly, after leaving Alec, not caring at all about his usual cleaning ritual. What was the point, anyway.

He, who had been all-powerful and magnificent, had become nothing.

As to Alec…

Magnus sighed.

He hadn’t seen the proposal coming. At all.

Of course, he was already mindful that his boyfriend was prone to unexpected professions and impulsive reactions. So, after last days’ ordeal, it actually had some sense that he tried to affirm his and Magnus’ delicate feeling of loss by filling the void with love.

The best, and probably only, way that Alec could find to cheer Magnus up.

Magnus had looked at the ring with the big L engraved and had shivered.

He had looked, in a kind of trance, how Alec slid the ring over his right hand ring finger, and had stared at it as if a magical object it was.

Meanwhile, Alec’s big eyes and expectant smile, from his kneeling position at the ex-warlock’s feet, had felt like a heavy burden over Magnus’ heart.

He couldn’t accept it.

He simply couldn’t.

Also he didn’t know how to explain it all to Alec, because he himself didn’t really understand why he wasn’t ready to spend the rest of his life with the man he loved more than his life itself.

For whom he had given up his most precious treasure: his magic.

But Alec kept waiting for him to say anything, his smile becoming unsure and wavering.

So, instead of staying and trying to make any sense of his turbulent thoughts, Magnus had fled. Leaving a bewildered Alec still on his knees, shouting after him, begging him to come back.

Magnus groaned at the bitter memory. His own eyes, fully dark without a single spark of the gold that had been his warlock mark, stared at him in loathing.

Magnus supported his body, threatening to crumble down, with an arm on the shop door’s threshold, and dropped his head on his arm.

He couldn’t bear the accusing, blaming gaze that the window shop gave him back.

It had been a long time since he had felt ashamed of himself.

Centuries, probably.

A fleeting thought that he should start walking away crossed his troubled mind. He wasn’t sure why he had come here, in the first place.

The lights inside the shop went off, so he straightened his back, avoiding the ugly reflection on the window glass, and was about to move when the shop door opened.

_Damn. He was also slow._

“Magnus!” Maryse exclaimed in surprise. She had her handbag hanging from her shoulder, her workday clearly finished. “What are you doing here?”

Magnus looked around, searching for a way to escape.

_Too late, a small voice in his mind said._

“I… I…”

Maryse suppressed a sigh. Obviously, the proposal hadn’t gone the way her son had planned.

“Come on in.” She said, opening the door wider. When Magnus hesitated, she motioned inside with her head and went in, resolute.

Magnus sighed, resigned, and followed her.

_Damn Lightwoods and their bossy manners._

Well, he knew that technically Maryse wasn’t a Lightwood, but all those years next to Robert had probably rubbed off.

Maryse turned a lamp on again and carelessly left her handbag on a chair.

If she felt any shock at the face of a devastated Magnus, she didn’t say anything, which Magnus silently thanked her for.

“I’m going to make some tea.” Maryse announced. “Would you like some? Yes, of course you would. Sit down, I’ll be right back.”

Magnus moved heavily, as if he was in a dream, staring around the bookshop, pretty disconcerted that Maryse had chosen this one as her mundane business.

He sat down at the small table, watching as the woman set the kettle on and get the things ready for their tea.

The bookshop looked neat and cozy, all the shelves in pristine order, the comfortable-looking chairs giving the place an air of homeliness. Magnus thought that book lovers would surely feel good at the place.

It must be nice, he also thought, knowing that you can make other people feel better.

He had felt like that, some time ago. At his loft, his home, where his own business had been conducted, and all his bottles, books and material sat in perfect order, waiting for his clients to arrive and for his magic to flow.

But now… What was he now? A simple man, without any feature to distinguish him from the rest of the manhood.

He fisted his hands hard and bit his lip, commanding his own self to calm down before Maryse would return with their tea.

“Here you are.” The woman (the one who could have been his mother-in-law, the little voice offered in Magnus’ head) set a steamy mug in front of the former warlock, on a coaster with a tiny world map printed on it. “And sugar. Alec told me you have a sweet tooth.”

Magnus fidgeted with the sugar bowl, eventually caving and adding three lumps in his mug. If there was a moment when sugar was needed, it was this one indeed, he decided.

Maryse left him brood a little, sipping carefully her tea, watching the myriad of emotions crossing by his non-future-to-be son-in-law. She sighed at the thought.

Who would have said it, twenty years ago. Magnus and her, sharing tea over a similar misfortune.

“Will you excuse me if I send a text?” Maryse asked, picking her phone from her bag. “I was meeting someone for dinner, but we can put a rain check on that.”

“A date?” Magnus stood up, his heart burning with guilt, knocking his chair over in his haste. _Couldn’t he do anything right this night?_ “Shit, I’m sorry, Maryse. Of course you must go! You should’ve said…”

“Magnus.” She reached out to him from her chair. “It wasn’t a date or anything. It’s only a friend. As I said, we can meet some other day. Sit down. Please. Your tea will get cold.”

Maryse’ steady gaze told Magnus that she meant it, so he sat again, his usual willpower nowhere to be seen, and wrapped his hands around the mug.

The Lightwood ring was still on his finger, he realized, so he hid his hand between his legs in a quick move.

She sent her texts (one to Luke, one to Alec) and put her phone back in her bag.

“It’s nice, in here.” Magnus said at last, his gaze running through the shelves again, this time more aware of it all.

“Thanks.” She said. “Isabelle and his weird friend, you know, the vampire? They helped me out with the settling. I must say, the vampire’s velocity is a real helper in these cases!”

Magnus nodded absently.

Maryse hadn’t expected him to talk about what had happened between him and Alec, but she was really curious so as to why he had come to her new business, of all places. Magnus and her, they were getting along better and better, but there would be a long way until they could feel truly comfortable around each other. Even more, while being alone by themselves, as they were at the moment.

She let him lead the conversation.

“I’m glad that you found something that you like doing, Maryse. What happened to you with the Clave… it was unfair and horrible.”

 _So that was it_ , Maryse suddenly understood.

She pursed her lips, thinking her next words with care.

“Not sure about the unfair part, but the deruning? Yes, it wasn’t nice. I deserved it, anyway.”

“Did it hurt?” Magnus asked, staring at the smoke coming off his mug, already knowing the answer.

“Terribly.” Maryse confessed. “It felt as if a part of your body was ripped out of your flesh. And the void in my chest afterwards? That was the worst part. Knowing that I could never use a rune again. That I had to learn the mundane ways. I used to look at the woman in my mirror and couldn’t recognize her. At times, I was afraid I would go crazy. Like real crazy.”

Again Magnus nodded, slowly.

The silence enveloped them again.

“How did you do it?” He whispered at last.

“Honestly?” Maryse shrugged. “I don’t have the least notion. The first days, oh, those were the worse. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, almost nobody to talk to… But then, I realized that my children still need me. If only for them, I have to be able to survive, not just as an empty shell, but as a full-living person. So I got my shit together, as young people say nowadays, and washed my face, cleaned my small apartment, went to buy groceries… I began talking to vendors, to people in shops, in libraries… I put my makeup again and dressed nicely. A smile can do wonders when you need to speak to anyone, as you well know.”

Magnus stared at her now, transfixed. She spoke as if it hadn’t been a nightmare, all those little steps she had taken, when he was fully aware of how much it must have cost to her wounded pride.

“But it wasn’t enough, right?” He offered, unable to get silenced, the voice in his head urging him to share his feelings.

Maryse smiled bitterly and looked at him, her eyes candid and firm.

“No, it wasn’t. I had been someone important, and now I’m not.”

Magnus lowered his head, a rush of warm affection towards the woman running through his body.

“But you know what?” Maryse continued. “I eventually found out that I don’t care. Not anymore. I mean, I did something terrible, years ago, so it was only just that I faced the consequences for my actions. It took a lot on introspection and harsh self-acknowledging, and I didn’t like what I see, when I looked inside of me. For example, the way I treated you, Magnus, when Alec showed how he felt about you… how he really was. And how I treated my own son. That was unforgivable of me.” Her voice was hot with feelings.

The ex-warlock lifted his gaze, shocked, to find her almost at the brink of tears.

“But I ask of you to forgive me, anyway.” She added, wiping a stranded tear from the corner of her eye.

“Maryse, that’s all in the past.” Magnus muttered, his fingers playing nervously with the Lightwood ring, under the table.

“Please.” She insisted, her eyes shining.

Magnus swallowed hard.

“It was all forgiven time ago, Maryse.” He told her. “You’re Alec’s mother.”

“Which is not a reason to forgive anyone, I must say.” She smiled. “Oh, the stories I’ve heard when shopping groceries! And I thought we Shadowhunters were hard on ourselves!”

Magnus chuckled, even through his pain.

“It’s ok.” He said, noticing that the smile on his lips, the first one since Lorenzo took his magic back, didn’t fade. “We’re ok.”

Maryse smiled too. She had a wonderful smile, he thought, wide and warm like Alec’s.

Alec.

The thought of him, of his hurting soul, brought Magnus sober again.

“Maryse…” He began saying, screwing his eyes shut. “I did something terrible…”

“You refused to marry Alec.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

No accusation, no regret, no joy.

Just the fact.

He lifted his eyes to her, shyly.

“Did he tell you?” He mused, torn between feeling shame and anger, as if words could cause physical pain.

“Of course he didn’t.” She stated, a soft smile on her lips. “It’s Alec, you know.”

Magnus nodded.

“Then how you…?”

“Magnus.” She reached out over the table to him. “You would be with him, if things had gone well. I did know he was going to propose tonight.”

Magnus took her hand, almost unaware of the gesture.

“I don’t know what… why I said no.” He looked at her, as if by saying it aloud would help finding a meaning to it all. “I love Alec with all my heart. I want to spend the rest of my days with him. There’s nothing I want more than to marry him! But still…”

Maryse squeezed his hand.

“Still you said no.” She said.

“Still I said no.” He repeated, in a astonished voice.

Alec’s mom cleared her throat, after a moment of quietness.

“All of that that you said,” she spoke slowly, as if a thought was forming through her mind, “all of that is about you and Alec.”

Magnus nodded. He seemed incapable of doing much more, actually.

“And don’t get me wrong, I love that you feel like that about my son.” She clarified with a smile. “But what about you, Magnus? What do you feel about you? What do you want for your future, aside being with Alec? Have you thought about it?”

Magnus frowned.

“I… I have a backup plan.” He said. “Lorenzo’s magic didn’t work on me. Maybe if I could go to my father again, I…”

“That’s a dead end, and you know it.” She affirmed, gravely. “Your father would never give you your magic back.”

Magnus took his hand away from hers in a rush, scrunching his face in anger. Maryse didn’t seem to care.

“You don’t know…”

“Of course I know. I’ve been studying demons for all my life, Magnus. They don’t give anything for free. What else could you have, that Asmodeus would accept in exchange for your magic?”

Magnus sulked for a while. He knew he was being childish, that Maryse was right.

Yet… the thought of not being magical again, it was unbearable.

“Maybe you should start thinking outside your comfort zone, Magnus.” The woman was saying. “Maybe you should look ahead, not behind you. Listen, you have many years in your future.”

“I had a whole eternity.” He muttered, his eyes fixed on his intertwined fingers on his lap.

“An eternity of loneliness. Yes, I’m sure that is the most appealing thing.”

A murderous glance from the ex-warlock wouldn’t shut the dauntless woman.

“Listen, Magnus, you are a wonderful man, full of knowledge and passion. There must be something else, beside your magic, that you want to do.”

He shook his head, his frown threatening to fuse with his mouth.

“Nothing? Like, I don’t know, an advisor on magic? A potion maker?”

“Potions only work when you add magic to them.” He groaned.

_Dammit, did that woman know nothing?_

“You just need to figure it out.” Maryse was relentless, batting away his protest with a gesture of her hand. “It will come to you, maybe in days, maybe in weeks, but you’ll find out what you want to do next.”

The sureness in her voice made Magnus’ will to sulk falter. He lifted his gaze, hesitant.

“I found mine, after all!” She spread her arms and looked around at her little bookshop, grinning.

Her joy was almost infecting.

“Maybe…” He caved, uncertain.

“You will.” She stated, her dark eyes sparkling fiercely. “Then, and only then, you’ll be able to say yes to Alec, Magnus.”

Suddenly, it dawned on Magnus. Since he lost his magic, he had felt as if he was only another piece in Alec’s life. A very important one, true, but with no identity at all.

He needed to find himself in this new life.

A real partner to Alec, not a shadow in his shadowhunter’s path.

Magnus looked at Maryse in awe, words lost in his mouth. He gazed down to the ring on his finger and, taking it off, handed it to Maryse in a hurry.

“I shouldn’t have kept it.” He mused. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“I guess you weren’t thinking. Just feeling.” She smiled a bit. “Keep it with you, Magnus. When  the right time arrives, you’ll know it. And you’ll put in on again. I’m sure that Alec isn’t planning on give it to anyone else. Ever. He is young and makes mistakes even though he acts from pure love, but he learns fast. He will understand.”

Magnus put the ring on his pocket, like an automaton.

_“When had that woman become so wise?_

_Or maybe she was always wise and he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it?_

Maryse had to learn fast as well, he realized.

He blinked back some unwanted tears and tried to smile and utter some thanks, but then Maryse smiled wider at him, stood up and said:

“Why don’t you stay at my place tonight, Magnus? It’s small and it only has one bedroom, but my coach is really comfortable. Are you hungry? Because I’m starving! There’s this takeout place on our way home, they have the most delicious Sriracha Wings you can eat! Or we could grab something from the Chinese restaurant around the corner. What would you like best?” She retrieved her phone from her bag and started the Internet app. “I’ll order from here so we can pick it up without waiting, ok?”

And just like this, Magnus spent the night in Maryse’s couch, after having a tasty dinner and a tastier conversation, with his soul pained but a spark of a decision budding in his mind.

Before going to sleep (which he truly doubted he could), he sent an apologizing text to Alec.

Dozens of missing calls and texts were shouting at him from the silenced phone screen.

He turned it off before waiting for a reply.

He wasn’t strong enough to hear Alec’s voice yet.

 

*****

 

That night, after that disaster of a proposal, after driving himself crazy with regret and self-blaming and self-doubts, Alec had gotten two unforeseen texts from his mom. From which he inferred that:

  * Magnus was in the bookshop with her, still carrying the ring (Maryse was nothing but a fine observer)
  * Magnus was going to spend the night at Maryse’ place, but Alec was not to intervene yet.



The words “ _My love is not enough for Magnus_ ” had been hovering over his worried mind like the proverbial Damocles’ sword. He had firmly believed that Magnus would be happy that Alec still wanted to marry him, even though he had no magic.

Because to Alec, Magnus would always be magical. Magic or not.

Still, Magnus had stared at the Lightwood family ring as if it was a snake coiling around his finger, and had left barely muttering an “ _I can’t!_ ”

Alec had run after him, only to lose him among the crowd in that New York’s evening.

_Seriously, how fast could Magnus run?_

Saying that Alec had thought he could lose his mind was an understatement. The only thing he had wanted to cause Magnus was more pain. Unfortunately, that had seemed to be the case, and Alec couldn’t fathom why.

_How did he fail?_

_What did he do wrong?_

_Didn’t Magnus want to marry him?_

_Didn’t Magnus want to marry at all?_

_Did Magnus want to break up?_

Hundreds of imagined answers to his hundreds of questions, left unanswered though.

Alec couldn’t bear the thought that he, instead of relieving Magnus’ heavy soul, had inflicted him somehow another wound.

His phone pinged at last from the only one he needed to hear from. A succinct text: “ _I’m sorry. I’ll explain soon. Please forgive me. I love you._ ”

Which raised even more questions. Alec tried to call Magnus, but the line was dead. Obviously Magnus didn’t want to talk

Alec was pulling from his hair when his phone rang, but it wasn’t Magnus. It was his mother.

Maryse’ tone was low. She explained to Alec that she didn’t want Magnus to wake up, in case he had fallen asleep (he looked drained, she said), nor she wanted his son’s boyfriend to know she was talking to Alec.

“I’m sorry, Alec, but you’ll have to wait until he’s ready to talk.” It was everything she said about their conversation.

“But mom…”

“Alec.” His mother sounded strict. Like in the old times, Alec thought bitterly. “He’s going through a lot, and your proposal, even though well-intended, seemed to put a bit of more strain on him. please, don’t torture yourself. It’s not because of you. Magnus loves you, he loves you so much, my boy. But after everything that has happened to him, he’s not ready yet. Please be patient.”

Alec sighed.

“I just wanted to make things right.” He mused. “I just wanted to protect him from pain. To stop him from hurting.”

“That, Alec, only he can achieve.” Maryse affirmed. “You may be there to support him, to help him going through these hard times. But he’s lost without his magic. Please understand. Imagine what you would feel if you were stripped from your runes. If your status were taken from you.”

Alec shook his head.

“I would go on… I would…” He suddenly realized why Magnus had come to his mother, and stopped short. “Oh, mom, I’m so sorry! You were…. I’m sorry, I didn’t want to sound insensitive! I just...”

“Shhh.” She hushed him tenderly. “I know, my sweet boy, I know. As I know that your love for Magnus is like you’ve never felt before. I understand. Now you please understand him. Give him some space. Wait for him. He needs to figure some things out, but when he does, he’ll come to you. And he will talk, and you will listen. Ok?”

Alec nodded, then he realized that she couldn’t see him.

“Ok.” He whispered.

“Fine.” Maryse grinned, and Alec could tell by the change in her tone. “Now good night, Alec. It’s been a long day and I need my beauty sleep.”

“You’re always beautiful.” Alec said even without thinking. “Thanks, mom. Thanks for taking care of Magnus.”

“Hey, it was Magnus who came to me! I’m just happy to be of any help.”

“Mom.” Alec swallowed hard. “I love you. In case I don’t say it enough.”

“Alec.” She mused, probably moved. “I love you too, my boy. So much.”

“Good night.”

 

*****

 

Three days.

Three days getting barely a couple of texts a day from Magnus, just to assure Alec he was ok, and that he was busy.

Three days in which Alec buried himself in paperwork and even some field missions, to keep his mind and body occupied in anything that wasn’t Magnus.

Three days of missing Magnus’ sweet voice and his body’s warmth.

And suddenly, out of the blue, Alec got a message with an address and the words “ _Meet me there._ ”

Alec left everything behind, putting Underhill in charge until his return, and run towards the referred address.

The street was a quiet one in the traffic-related area, with terraced houses where children played in the common gardens, and brimming with a variety of multicolored shops from which a motley crew came in and out in a leisure manner.

Alec frowned and looked around, trying to catch the catch of it all.

He walked decidedly to the number he had been given, just to find a stand-alone house, surrounded by disarranged bushes and a fence around it in badly need of painting. The front, ground floor of the house showed a store window with a dirt-muffled banner painted on it, a rusty-looking door, and some steps leading to the house’s main door.

Quite picturesque, Alec thought. And not far from his mother’s bookshop, he realized.

But where was Magnus?

He knocked on the shop’s door, afraid that, if he knocked too hard, the door would crumble down.

Nobody answered.

He looked through the dulled window, but it was too dark inside, and the window too dirty.

Alec sighed. He checked the text again, even though his perfect memory already knew the address by heart.

Was really Magnus here?

He climbed the stairs up and knocked on the big door, its formerly bright green painting peeling from the wood.

Nothing, again.

Alec sighed, this time in exasperation. He took his phone out of his back pockets again and dialed Magnus’ number.

Before two rings had sounded, his boyfriend’s cheerful voice came from underneath.

“Alexander! I’m here! Come down!”

Alec’s heart jumped inside his chest at hearing Magnus’ happy tone. He climbed down the stairs three at a time.

“Magnus!” He exclaimed in a frenzied tone. “I’ve been worried sick!” He stopped in his tracks.

_Dammit, Alec, this is not about you!_

“How have you been?” He asked, eyeing his boyfriend as if he hadn’t seen him in an eon. It had felt an eon, those three days, actually.

Actually, Magnus looked quite fine. He had applied his makeup again, and his dressing style was his usual flashy one, black tight jeans, green silk shirt and studded black velvety jacket.

Only that covered in dust, apparently, Alec realized, astounded.

Magnus, though, didn’t seem to mind. His smile was wide and happy. He was holding the shop door open and was motioning Alec to come inside.

“Have you been living here these last days?” Alec entered the place with care, his eyes adjusting quickly to the somber ambience.

“Don’t be silly!” Magnus even laughed. “This place needs a thorough remodeling before anyone can live here. Actually, I just find it yesterday.”

Alec’s mood felt relieved when he saw Magnus moving around the shop easily, as if he had lived here forever.

“I walked past it, saw the on-sale notice on the door, and fell in love with the place.” Magnus told him, setting a knocked-out chair on its feet, then its companion too. “There’s room for everything I need, Alexander! It has the shop, and in the backyard there’s a shed that can be transformed in my own laboratory…”

Alec’s head started to spin, and he wasn’t sure whether it was just the dust to blame at all.

“Magnus. Magnus!” He lifted a hand, carefully, so as not to scare his exhilarated boyfriend. “What is this all about? Your lab? For what?”

Magnus stopped moving for the first time in these past days and walked towards Alec, noticing his concerned look. He did appreciate that Alec hadn’t grabbed him and forced an answer out of him. Alec would never treat him harshly, but sometimes worry can makes us act impulsively.

“Your mother was right, Alexander.” He said in a low, grave voice. “I was lost. Without my magic, I didn’t know who I was, or what I would do for the rest of my life. And I couldn’t…” He dropped his eyes, sure that his next words would hurt Alec. “I couldn’t just be your boyfriend. Or your husband. I just… I couldn’t.”

He begged Alec with his eyes for understanding, and felt an immediate relief at Alec’s answer.

“I pushed you towards what I believed it would be better for you, for what it was actually better for me, instead of helping you finding what you thought it would be better for you. I’m sorry, Magnus. I’m so sorry!”

Alec’s fist looked white against his black cargo pants. The strain of not touching Magnus until his boyfriend allowed him to.

Although he itched to touch him. Badly.

“Alexander.” Magnus’ smile was the softest he had ever sported. He reached out and eased Alec’s fisted fingers. He intertwined these with his own, and saw Alec relax at once. “It’s me who should be apologizing to you. I behaved terribly. I was unfair to you. I’m so…”

“Can I kiss you?” Alec breathed, cutting his boyfriend’s apologize short.

Magnus’ gleeful laugh illuminated the dark room.

“Of course you can, you silly… Hmph!”

Alec’s lips were like ambrosia from heaven, Magnus barely thought. He had missed them so much.

Alec’s arms embraced Magnus with infinite care, sharing their power yet their delicate touch with the man he loved.

And Magnus hugged Alec back, with all the force he could muster, though.

Because he didn’t feel weak anymore.

He wouldn’t break.

Not anymore.

Both of them broke apart for air, noses touching, smiling wildly, and stayed like that for a long moment.

“I’ve missed you.” Alec confessed, pecking his boyfriend at times.

“I’ve missed you too.” Magnus couldn’t stop grinning.

“But you’ve been busy, you said.” Alec’s curiosity poked through his iron will though.

“I have.” Magnus unwillingly untangled himself from Alec’s arms. “I’m planning to set my shop here. In this house.”

“Your shop.”

“ _Love and Beauty_. That will be the name. _L &B_. Do you like it?”

Alec pursed his lips in concentration.

“And you’ll sell…?”

Magnus sighed. Alec was completely oblivious of the perks of the beauty market.

“Your mother told me that I should look for something that would make me happy. As I did when I was able to concoct potions for my clients. Only that I can’t concoct potions anymore, since they need magic to work. But then I must thank _YOU_ for the idea, darling!” he lifted a finger, seeing that he had captured Alec’s undivided attention, “Yesterday morning, I was taking a shower in your mom’s apartment, and let me tell you, her shampoo is really terrible. See?”

Alec was listening, he really tried to figure out where Magnus were pointing at, but he was failing miserably. He had no idea what his boyfriend wanted to say.

And Magnus saw this, clearly, in Alec’s scrunched, concentrated faced. He suppressed a smile, because, really, dumbfounded Alec was so cute!

“I remembered that morning when you asked me to brew some sandalwood shampoo.” Magnus explained, and Alec’s face brightened at the memory.

“I wanted to know why you brewed shampoo when you could magic them up, and you said because you liked showers.”

Magnus’ smile became wider.

“Exactly. But that wasn’t just the only reason. I brew shampoo because I know how to do it. As I know how to make a lot of other stuff. Like face creams, soap, candles… Everything in the most natural fashion. No additives, no chemicals. People loves natural things these days. A conversation with your mom and a thorough search through the Internet convinced me of that. And also… you know, with my connections around the world? I would do a great antique dealer, darling! Also your mother has already introduced me to her lawyer, and we’ve already set everything in motion to create my own company!”

Alec looked at the webbed ceiling, putting thoughts together.

“So… you are saying that you want to concoct and sell the stuff you make? Here? And also to sell antiquities?”

Magnus nodded, expectantly. And a bit afraid of Alec’s negative reaction. It was everything quite ambitious and vague but… He had hope.

Alec lowered his eyes to him, then, and grinned.

“Magnus, that’s brilliant! I mean… I know nothing about creams, or old furniture and that kind of stuff, but if mom says it’s a good idea, I believe her. And I know for sure that your tastes are the best!”

Magnus grinned, relieved.

“Now you’re flattering me, Alexander.”

Alec stepped closer and grabbed him lightly by his waist.

“Saying things just to comfort you? Would I lie to you like that?” He teased him, dragging him closer.

Magnus set his hands on his boyfriend’s stone-hard pectorals. He looked at Alec, serious now.

“No. You wouldn’t lie to me like that. No after all we’ve been through.”

Alec just held him a bit tighter.

“I love you, Magnus Bane. If this is what you want to do with your life, I’m more than happy to assist you in any possible way. Just ask, and I’ll do my best.”

Magnus lifted his hands to grab Alec’s neck and drag him to a kiss.

“Your best will always be the best possible best to me, Alexander.”

A noisy ring rumbled through the sounds of their kisses. Magnus’ jacket was lying by then in a careless heap on the floor and Alec’s leather one was about to join it.

“Dammit.” Alec swore, fishing his phone out of his pocket. “What.” He barked at the caller. “What? Send Jace. I’m busy, and Jace can handle that. And Underhill. I don’t want to be bothered unless there’s a real danger to the planet. Is that understood? Ok.”

He put the phone back in its place and held Magnus again.

“Where were we?”

Magnus chuckled.

“We were about to get distracted from my purpose in bringing you here. Come on upstairs.” He laughed at Alec’s disappointed pout. “I want to show you everything.”

“I have everything I need here.” Alec tried to grab him by the waist again, but Magnus slipped away, laughing still.

“So do I.” Magnus answered back, kissing his boyfriend’s hand. “But I also want you to see all of this.”

So Alec followed him through an inner narrow staircase to the first floor, curious and happy. Anywhere that Magnus were, it would be good enough for Alec too.

 

*****

 

The Shadowhunter wasn’t prepared for _all of this_.

The house, decrepit as it looked like from the outside, was a real mansion in the inside. High ceilings, decorated with cheeky paintings. Marble floors. Columns. No furniture though.

“This is… awesome.”

“I know, right? Nobody would have thought that this place was such a palace!” Magnus laughed, obviously pleased with himself. “It belonged to a grumpy, old, rich man who died without children. He had the shop rented to a tinker or something like that. The old guy liked hearing the sound coming off the shop, the real solicitor told me.” Magnus shrugged. “The thing is, the heirs, far relatives, wanted to get rid of the place so they can spend the money in casinos and beaches. So I bought it.”

Alec stared at him, his hazel eyes bigger than ever.

“You… what?”

“I bought it. For a ridiculously low price, I must say. Of course, it needs a full rehabilitation, but it has so much potential, Alexander!”

Alec blinked. Usually Magnus was the one who thought things, not twice but thrice, and he always called Alec _the impulsive one_ in their couple.

But this… this was something else entirely. Buying a big house and a shop to start a new life?

The Shadowhunter followed Magnus from room to room, admiring the wide spaces and the tall windows.

The stairs had broad steps and firm, golden handrails.

The bedrooms could easily accommodate a dozen of people. Alec had lost count of how many they were.

He was speechless.

Magnus did all the talking though. How they would furnish each of them. What would be the best materials to use. What refurbishing company to hire.

Alec followed him back down, every second more in awe. Magnus had truly thought of everything.

He had really been busy.

“And this…” Magnus said, opening the door to the last room in the house, the one he had reserved for the end of their tour, “this could be our especial place, Alexander.”

He held his breath, waiting for Alec to enter and see what he meant.

It was a small room, actually. It contained some cupboards, some chairs and a sturdy but beautifully carved breakfast table that overlooked to a spacious but extremely unkempt garden through tall French windows. To one of the sides of the garden, the shed that Magnus had referred to could be seen; Alec noticed it was close to the side of the house that led to the basement in which the shop was installed.

All very convenient but sensible.

All very cozy but elegant.

All very luminous but private.

All very Magnus. And oddly enough, all very Alec too.

Alec felt immediately in love with the room.

The Shadowhunter turned around to look at his boyfriend, who was nervously twirling one of his rings on his finger. Magnus’ eyes were deeply guarded.

“Magnus, I love it.” Alec proclaimed. “It’s… it’s perfect, Magnus. I don’t know how you did everything you did in barely a couple of days, how you planned everything, how you…”

In two long strides, Alec was at Magnus’ side, holding his hands.

“Magnus, this is awesome. You are awesome.”

He saw the ex-warlock dropping his gaze and swallowing hard.

“Magnus, you heard me? This is…”

“Alexander, please sit down, will you?” Magnus took him to one of the chairs.

Alec looked at its rickety aspect but it held his weight nonetheless. He waited for Magnus to speak. As he had promised his mom, Magnus would talk, and he would listen.

“Alexander, I didn’t run that night because I didn’t love you.” Magnus began, pacing around the small room. “Or because your love wasn’t enough. Yes, don’t give me that look. I know you, and I know that that thought must’ve crossed your mind. Believe me, your love is more than enough.” He stood in front of Alec and looked right at him. “Your love is everything I’ve been waiting for during the long centuries of my lonely life.”

Alec nodded at him encouragingly, his hazel eyes big and sparkling.

“But that was exactly why I couldn’t marry you.” Magnus kept talking, reaching out for Alec’s hands. “I couldn’t tie you to a shadow. And I was a shadow, Alexander. Without my magic, I felt empty. An emptiness that your love couldn’t reach, because it came from a hard loss, and you didn’t deserve the vacant shell I was about to become. It would have ruined us, eventually. I needed to feel a man with a purpose again. And this…” he motioned all around him, his smile hopeful and bright, “this is giving me purpose, Alexander. This is the beginning I need to become that man again. With your help. I wouldn’t be able to do anything if I didn’t know you’re here with me. Helping me to live without my magic.” Magnus squeezed Alec’s hands, in a silent prayer. “Will you, Alexander?”

Alec swallowed hard, the dam in his eyes threatening to break loose. Then a thought that had fixated in his mind these past days came to alive again.

“Magnus,” he said, reining the tremor in his voice in, “do you remember when you told me that, as a tiger has its stripes, you wore your eyeliner?” He waited for Magnus’ inquisitive nod. “To me, you will always be a tiger. It wouldn’t matter if you don’t wear eyeliner anymore, it wouldn’t matter if you don’t have magic. To me, you will always be magical. As a tiger is not a tiger because it has stripes. I remember seeing an albino tiger at a zoo, when I was a child, and thinking that it was one of the most beautiful living beings I’ve ever seen. That is what you are to me, Magnus. Fierce, powerful, beautiful. My tiger. With or without stripes.”

Alec squeezed Magnus’ hands, trying to convey what his poor words couldn’t, his heart so full that it could explode. He could see that Magnus’ eyes were shining with emotion too.

“My dear Alexander. My poet. My warrior. My love. You always find the right things to say.” The former warlock mused in awe. “Yet I have to ask you, hoping that you say the right things again.” Magnus was as on edge as Alec, only his iron will checking his fear from running wild. He knelt in front of Alec.

Alec blinked slowly.

_What was Magnus doing?_

Magnus let Alec’s hands go and reached inside his trousers’ pocket. He held a small jewelry box on one hand and a ring on the other.

“This was the ring you offered me that awful night.” Magnus slid it carefully over his ring finger. “Your mother said that I knew when to put it on again. And this,” he looked up to Alec, whose emotions flooded all over his beautiful, clear face, “this is what I offer to you.”

He opened the small box.

Alec stared at the big ring with the engraved B. The one that had always been Magnus’ signature ornament.

“Will you, Alexander Lightwood, marry me, Magnus Bane?” Magnus barely whispered, his voice breaking into a million pieces.

Alec nodded frantically, his smile brighter than the sun that poured thought the French windows.

“I don’t want anything else in the world, Magnus Bane.”

They stood up at the same time, giggling, exhilarated, and kissed each other for what looked like an infinity.

“You are my world, Alexander Bane. Never forget that.” Magnus said at last, his heart racing with excitement.

“As long as you never forget that I’ll always be here for you, Magnus Lightwood.”

Magnus rolled his eyes.

“Let’s get to a compromise, ok? Bane-Lightwood?”

“Or Lightwood-Bane?” Alec arched an eyebrow, teasingly.

Magnus pursed his lips as if he was considering the proposed name, and nodded.

“I like that. Lightwood-Bane. Sounds beautiful.”

“Wait.” Alec frowned. His mind had just jumped at the conclusion. “You really had everything planned, didn’t you?”

“Whatever you mean, darling?” Magnus realized that Alec had joined the dots.

“ _L &B Beauty_. It’s not only _Love and Beauty_ , isn’t it? It’s Lightwood-Bane too!”

Magnus laughed happily.

“I love that my fiancé is so smart.”

Alec slapped him on the ass lightly.

“Well, I don’t know if I like that my fiancé is so coy.” He protested.

“Oh, you love it!” Magnus winked at him, holding him closer. “Do that again?”

“What?”

“You know…” Magnus motioned with his head downwards, smirking, and Alec understood.

“Oh, you are in a playful mood now, aren’t you?” Alec pinched his fiancé on the slapped ass cheek.

“Ouch! Well… what’s the point to having such a place to ourselves if we don’t get to play a bit, Alexander?”

“Speaking of that.” Alec sighed, no loosening a bit his hold onto his fiancé. “Isn’t the house a bit big? I mean, it’s just the two of us…”

“Oh, I’ve already talked to a couple of young werewolves who would be happy to be our employees. They will help us managing it all. If you agree to it, of course.”

“Good, I don’t want to spend all our free time cleaning. But then again… why so many rooms? As I said, it’s only the two of us.”

“For now.” Magnus said in a low voice.

“For now?” Alec enquired, squinting at his fiancé.

Magnus nodded and wrapped his arms around Alec’s neck. Goddamn, the man was tall. And he loved every inch of him.

“I always wanted children, Alexander. I am sterile, as you know, but I’ve always considerer adoption. The problem was… I never found the right person to adopt children with. Now… I’ve seen you around Madzie. I’ve seen you with Max, and other children. And I thought that maybe… in the future….. we could…”

“Yes.” Alec said.

Simply like that.

Yes.

Because, with Magnus, there would always be a yes.

Magnus flushed his body to his fiancé’s, hugging him by the waist.

“I’ve been blessed with the most understanding of husbands.”

Alec huffed, happy.

“I blame on your beautiful eyes, my tiger. You can get anything from me, when you look at me like this.”

Magnus smirked and kissed Alec’s chin.

“Then… can I get to practice for the wedding night?”

Alec arched an eyebrow, trying to appear stern but really happy to have his playful Magnus back.

 “Like… now?”

“I could even show you my claws.” Magnus narrowed his eyes at Alec suggestively, unbuttoning his shirt slowly.

Alec closed his eyes.

Yes, there were about to get like they usually did. Finally!

He thanked the angel in his mind for it, and lowered his head to kiss the breath out of Magnus.

Afterwards, lying on the floor, on a blanket that his magical fiancé had produced out of the blue, with Magnus’ head resting over his hairy chest, Alec remembered that he needed to tell Magnus about his foolish idea to, maybe, get his magic back.

But seeing Magnus so blissfully satisfied after their love-making, Alec decided to stay quiet for a little longer.

Because as soon as he learnt about Alec’s plan, their peaceful time would be forgotten.

Because, sure, Magnus could be a tiger without stripes at the moment.

But he was a tiger anyway.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So... is anyone still with me? 
> 
> Didn't you get too bored? 
> 
> Was it too cheesy?
> 
> Unnecesary? 
> 
> How did you like it?
> 
> Please come and tell me! Comments are food for writers! (just saying 😉)
> 
> Here, or using the tag #ATigerWithoutStripesFic or @myramerida in Twitter. 
> 
> Thank you anyway! 🙏❤❤❤


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